Like a Poke in the Eye
by Tari Roo
Summary: Fill for Hawaii 50 hc commentfic meme - Danny gets hurt on a case and Steve DOES NOT handle waiting for word at the hospital very well


Like a Poke in the Eye

Author: Tari_Roo

Rating: PG (Gen)

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I profit from nothing. Although if I had my way Steve would be bare-chested even more than he is, we would actually 'see' Danny trying to surf and Kono would be a secret Cylon. That is all.

Summary: Prompt fill for Hawaii_50_hc commentfic meme - Danny gets hurt on a case and Steve DOES NOT handle waiting for word at the hospital very well.

AN: *crack knuckles, blows on fingers*Ok, lets see if I can blow through this writer's block from hell. And yes, to all of you waiting patiently for the next part of Our Devoured Minds – I'm hoping this ficlet will let loose the dogs of writing war!

There's just something about male nurses. Like an itch at the back of your brain, a nagging school yard hiss of 'he's a nurse! That's a girl's job.' It's a ridiculous, antiquated, childish notion, but still, male nurses get a lot of flack and a lot of teasing, no matter how important and necessary they are. Sometimes, often, hospital staff need that male presence and strength to handle unruly, panicked patients.

And handle difficult family members.

Steve didn't like being handled.

And he sure as hell didn't like being called – 'not family'.

But Nurse Kekapa was not backing down.

"You're not listed as next of kin, you are not family so you're not going in!" Kekapa had started out by calling him sir, but that had stopped right about the time Steve had tried to brush past him, and go straight into the triage part of the ER. Steve glared.

Kekapa stared back, unmoved.

"Danny is my partner and I need to know if he's ok!"

"I don't care if he's your dance partner, sir! You're not going in!" Oh, the sir was now sarcastic and weighted and Steve wanted to smack the little twerp right in the kisser and wipe that diminutive power tripping smirk off his face.

"Oh, we'll see about that."

Behind the mini-drama unfolding, Kono groaned and covered her eyes. Steve had his phone out and that 'I'm gonna call the Governor' look on his face. It wasn't a pleasant look.

McGarrett had barely touched the dial on the phone, probably not even touched 1 for speed dial, when the short male nurse struck like lightning and snatched the phone away. "You can't use that in here. See..."

Kono groaned again. Steve ignored the sign – the big red 'no cellphone use' sign and turned up the glare to 'deep fried'. "Give me back my phone." It was ice cold anger wrapped in deadly promise of violence. The nurse ... blinked. But Kono had to give him credit – and there weren't a lot of people out there who could withstand that glare – but the little guy shook his head. "No, sir."

Chin slipped into the hot sticky plastic seat next to her and hissed, "Any news?"

Kono shook her head, "Nope, but the Boss is about to implode."

Steve counted to ten. Slowly. Kekapa swallowed. Good, he was getting the point , the very very big hint about not pissing Steve off right now. "Give me back my phone."

Eyes wide, face resolute, the nurse shook his head.

Oh, Steve could take it from him, definitely – with ease, with scary scary ease. But the sane (and rapidly shrinking) part of his brain was reminding him that the Napoleonic nurse was doing his job. The voice sounded a lot like Danny. And that wasn't helping.

"I'll take the call outside."

Nurse Kekapa swallowed again, blinked again and stammered, "I..."

The response was reasonable, rational and might have had undertones of 'I can kill you with my pinky'. And maybe it was finally dawning on the guy that his opponent in this battle of distraught emotion versus mindless bureaucracy was much taller, fully armed and kinda scary.

"Do we have a problem here, Kekapa?"

The relief and 'help' was visible on the nurse's face and Steve looked up at the new arrival. A security guard. A big, probably former sumo wrestler security guard. And he was holding his baton like he knew how to use it – or at least like he thought he knew how to use it.

Regaining confidence now that he had backup, Kekapa nodded but said politely, "The officer here..."

"Lieutenant Commander."

"What?" Kekapa whirled back to stare at Steve, who was counting backwards from a 100. Danny was behind those doors, those stupid, closed, annoying doors and all that stood between him and finding out if Danny was ok was one broken nose and a double tap to throat and groin. Staring at the nose he planned on breaking in 2.5 seconds, Steve hissed, "Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett of Five-0, the Governor's task force."

Kekapa went pale. Sumo Security Guard grunted. Kono might have giggled nervously behind him. Steve resisted the urge to bare his teeth and snarl.

"Never heard of Five-0," Sumo guy grunted. The snarl appeared without thought. "Give me back my phone and I'll fix that for you."

"No cellphones in the hospital."

Steve was directed to the same sign again. "I'll take it outside!"

Kekapa appeared too scared to talk now, but Sumo continued on regardless. "It's been confiscated – for your own good." Kekapa turned 'are you crazy' eyes on the big guy. Steve... well... planned an assault on the doorway and figured he'd be through the doors in ten seconds. Tops.

"Officer Niko? Chin Ho Kelly. Five-0"

The voice of calm and reason descended like a dove and Steve turned silently towards Chin. Sumo Niko stared at the extended hand. Nurse Kekapa stared. And in the sudden quiet of the room, the heart stopping noise of a code blue being called shattered the peace.

Steve was moving before he even thought it through, side stepped the nurse and headed for the doors. Alas, for both Steve and Niko, the Security guard had some skills... and tackled Steve. Caught off guard by the attack, but already responding, Steve twisted and punched up and out. It didn't change the fact though that he was at the wrong side of a Sumo sandwich and as Niko fell, Steve couldn't escape the crushing weight of the man.

Unfortunately for Steve, Niko wasn't alone.

Kono stood, uncertain. Chin was still in the mix trying to calm everyone down. It looked like the entire security department was descending onto the ER – all to keep Steve contained.

It wasn't going well.

She winced at one particular blow, and the sharp groan that followed and wondered if she'd help the situation by going in herself. It was a bit of melee slash mosh pit, with more shouting and gesticulating than blows, but no one was actually listening to anyone.

And then one moron tried to disarm Steve.

The crack of bone and something snapping - and the resultant shriek stopped everyone in their tracks. Luckily Chin was quick of the mark and finally got everyone's attention by waving his badge around. "Stop, stop, just stop and calm down, ok."

The calm down was directed at Steve.

"What in the hell is going on here?"

Steve shot a quick glance at the new speaker, lost in the sea of wannabe cops and saw the white coat. A doctor! At last!

"Danny Williams, my partner, he was brought in twenty minutes ago with a stab wound..."

Before anyone else could chirp in, the doctor held up her hand and said, "It's a little crowded out here. Boys – take Niko in to get his hand looked it – probably more a sprain than broken. Kekapa, you can go back to triage."

Fuming a little at the delay, but hoping answers would be forthcoming, Steve waited for the Security staff to leave, ignoring their glares, more intent on the slim doctor. Two security guards stayed nearby though. In the semblance of calm, the doctor sighed, "Now, Officer.."

"Commander," both Steve and Chin chimed.

"Commander, I understand that you are worried about your partner..."

"I..."

The doctor continued speaking regardless of the interruption, "But that does not excuse this violent behaviour, threatening my staff or injuring people doing their job."

"I..."

"I will be speaking to the Governor about this, Commander. And yes, I know exactly who you are. And because you are Five-0, I will give you the benefit of the doubt and not press charges!"

Steve turned the glare back up, and opened his mouth to argue. But the doctor wasn't done. "If, and I mean if, you behave and sit down and wait like a normal human being, I will see about giving you an update on your partner in twenty minutes. Ok?"

No, it wasn't ok. But Chin was nodding fiercely, and tugging on his elbow. So Steve sighed, and nodded. "Twenty minutes," he snapped.

"Twenty minutes."

The doctor whirled back through the swinging doors and Chin guided Steve towards the waiting chairs. The rest of the waiting family members in the room gave him a wide berth. Neither Kono or Chin asked Steve if he was ok, because he obviously wasn't. Chin sat down, sighed, because it had been a long day and wasn't over. Kono shot her boss a worried look and Steve started impersonating a clock watching statue.

As the minutes ticked by, Kono sighed and whispered sotto to Chin, "So ... what do we do when he really loses his shit?"

Chin shrugged, "Take pictures?"

Steve pretended not to hear them.

It sure as hell wasn't twenty minutes before Steve could see Danny and verify with his own eyes that his partner was ok. True to her word, the doctor had come out at exactly twenty minutes (he'd seen her waiting a full minute through the window) and given them an update. Danny had been in surgery. Then he was out. Then they had to wait for visiting hours. And Steve had only got his phone back when Danny was ready to be seen.

So, to say he was tense – was an understatement.

And it didn't help that Danny was still unconscious when he entered the quiet room. Or sedated. Or sleeping. Or faking it to annoy him.

But he was breathing, and alive and breathing – and that was all that mattered.

It might have been hours or minutes later, and maybe Steve fell asleep at one point, but eventually Danny cracked an eyelid, groaned and hissed, "Good. You're here. Where's my gun?"

Steve smiled, "Kono's got it."

"Then she can shoot you."

Danny slipped back into sleep before he could yell for Kono and Steve leant back... content.


End file.
